HMD Global launched five new mobile phones at MWC 2018, all with striking industrial design. By choosing to only offer handsets with Google's pure Android One or Android Oreo (Go Edition), HMD threatens to disrupt established OEMs with legacy software. The new Nokia 8110 demonstrates featurephones are evolving now with LTE and will not die soon. HMD's flagship Nokia 8 Sirocco has a stunning steel-framed dual curved edge display in a super compact frame which will target Europe.

Samsung is packing its main innovative push into the cameras of its latest flagship Galaxy S devices. With the new super slow motion video capture, Samsung has improved on previous industry attempts to commercialize this feature. The Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus are strong handset designs which evolve from 2017’s excellent S8. They are markedly different in camera quality and display size from the two to three year old smartphones potential customers own now which should boost upgrades. However, consumers may delay purchase because of rising flagship prices.

At MWC Sony Mobile unveiled two new smartphones, Xperia XZ2, XZ Compact and the commercial launch for its Xperia Duo wearable. The importance of Sony’s innovations with these new smartphones will set the tone for the smartphone market for the next few years. IHS Markit expects other smartphone OEMs to deliver similar capabilities in the future including copying Sony’s 4K HDR video capture. But there is much more work needed to re-build Sony’s smartphone business and achievable sustainable profitability.

IHS forecasts for Netflix’s International territories have been slightly reduced to 38m for 2016 and 75.7m for 2020, a reduction of around 1m for the 5 year outlook. For the US 2016 forecasts have been adjusted to 48.3m subscribers.

Facebook has launched Facebook Lite, a simplified and lighter version of its Android mobile app, which is optimized for 2G Internet connections. The app is aimed at mobile users in emerging markets, especially those with low-end Android phones.

The FIFA World Cup 2014 saw an interesting mix of innovation, strategy, preparation and achievements on the pitch - but these qualities were also notable in the broadcasting efforts that showcased the tournament to a global audience on a larger scale than ever. The investments in infrastructure and technology for the tournament proved that the broadcasting industry is entering a new age - where data is larger than ever before, networks more complex, availability must be guaranteed at 99 percent with several 9s after the coma, with secondary feeds always accessible to step in. In this new era, storage, sharing and network capacity cannot be considered as issues, but as a commodity, elementary service.

“The global market for media transport services reached $16.5 billion in 2013 from $8.3 billion in 2006. During this period, traditional providers from satellite, teleport and terrestrial verticals recorded a doubling of revenues while fibre and CDN markets increased by three times and six times, respectively.